Davis Polk & Wardwell isn’t wasting any time making itself at home in Los Angeles.
Just weeks after announcing its long-awaited L.A. launch, the firm is already reportedly looking to build out a full-service office in Southern California, not merely plant a flag with a few high-profile lateral hires and call it a day. According to a new report from the American Lawyer, Davis Polk has much bigger ambitions for the market.
That means more hiring, more practice groups, and even more competition for elite West Coast talent in an already overheated lateral market.
The move follows the firm’s recruitment of longtime Skadden Los Angeles office leader Jason Russell to head up the new operation, a hire that immediately signaled Davis Polk wasn’t interested in a modest California debut. And based on Russell’s comments to Am Law, the firm’s expansion plans extend well beyond litigation.
The office “will bolster litigation,” Russell said, while adding that it will also be “strong in the entertainment space, life sciences and tech.” In other words: Davis Polk wants in on virtually every lucrative sector Los Angeles has to offer.
Firm chair Neil Barr echoed those ambitions, noting that the office’s transactional capabilities will continue to grow as well.
“You’ll see our corporate transactional footprint expand there as well as the sectors that Jason alluded to,” Barr said. “We are going to be opportunistic with private equity and (venture capital) work.”
Of course, having nearly $10 million in profits per partner probably doesn’t hurt when it comes to recruiting, and gives the firm plenty of firepower as it competes for top lateral talent.
Barr was candid about one reason behind the expansion: “We concluded that our current office footprint was artificially limiting our ability to attract certain talent.”
Translation: elite firms increasingly need a California presence if they want access to the full pool of rainmakers and rising stars.
And per Barr, Davis Polk certainly doesn’t sound worried about its ability to scale up quickly in a crowded market:
“We will do what we do everywhere: Hire the best lawyers in the geography we are in.”
Simple enough. Best of luck to Davis Polk on building out its brand new Los Angeles outpost.
Davis Polk Eyes Full-Service Office in LA, Recruiting More Talent [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
